


Into Darkened Minds

by pennywife



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Accidental Incest, Aliens, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Arguing, Be Careful What You Wish For, Canon-Typical Violence, Conflict Resolution, Daddy Issues, Disturbing Themes, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Plot Twists, Tags Contain Spoilers, Trauma, Triggers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 03:01:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17758523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennywife/pseuds/pennywife
Summary: Rick asks Beth to join him on a journey to find an ancient artifact— one that can grant the discoverer the thing he wants most in this world.





	1. White Beams of Light

**Author's Note:**

> This fic may not be what you think it’s going to be. If incest triggers you in any way, please do not read this.

“You know you really— You really fucked me over this time, Morty! Really screwed me up the ass here with this one!”

Beth waited with her legs hanging over the edge of the bed, cradling her aching head in her hands. A groan spilled from between her clenched teeth and drowned out the muffled sound of her son‘s high-pitched retort.

 _Like nails on a chalkboard sometimes,_ she thought to herself, then stopped listening altogether as soon as she heard the grating voice of her father start up again. 

It was times like this that Beth couldn’t help but miss having Jerry in the house. She missed waking up to the smell of a fresh cup of coffee waiting on the edge of the nightstand, two aspirin laid out neatly on the napkin beside it. Jerry had always had his own way of diffusing these situations, turning Rick’s hungover wrath onto himself instead of either one of the children. Now that he was gone the burden lied solely on her; and no matter how many weeks, how many frivolous arguments, Beth still hadn’t gotten any more skilled at handling it.

She waited for as long as she could for it to end, stomach grumbling clamorously behind her naval. Staring numbly at the rug beneath her feet she counted every little strand, every little fiber and piece of lint she could see; doing anything she could for their bickering to pass. Seconds ticked by, turning to minutes, and soon Beth was convinced she would surely starve to death if she waited for them to stop on their own. She pulled on a wrinkled pair of jeans from the foot of the mattress and quietly crept out of her room.

Downstairs Rick paced, heavy shoes clomping down against the hardwood like some caged and agitated animal. Head shaking, lips pulled back behind his teeth; he stopped suddenly and turned towards the center of the couch.

“You.” Rick barked, pointing a finger towards his granddaughter like some grand accusation. 

Summer, whose thumbs had been dancing wildly over the keyboard on her cellphone, briefly slowed to a halt. Expression dull and ridden with annoyance and boredom, she glanced up briefly to meet Rick’s eyes before looking back down again. 

“Don’t look at _me.”_ She began flatly, shifting around to make herself more comfortable in her seat. “I’m not going anywhere tonight.” 

Rick let out a roar of frustration, fingers hooked into claws as he raised them up to his head.

“Mother _fucker!”_ He growled, and the lines in his face pulled together like pages in a book.

It was then that Beth’s foot creaked against a loose panel at the bottom of the steps. Rick stilled, frozen; like a dog with its ears pricked. Then he spun, the end of his lab-coat whipping around wildly as he turned to face his daughter.

“You, Beth, Sweetie—“ he began, eyes wide with desperation. “You gotta— You gotta come with me today.” 

“What?” Beth let out a bubble of nervous laughter, having never once explicitly been asked to join her father on any one of his adventures. She pulled her arms in close to herself without even noticing, but when she saw the seriousness in his face she felt her shoulders drop. “Oh. Yeah, No I— I don’t know, Dad... I have a lot of errands to run and—“

“You know he’s just gonna drag Morty along if you don’t go.” Summer muttered, this time not even bothering to peer up from her phone.

Beth turned to glance at her son; traced a bead of sweat as it dripped down his forehead. There was so much desperation on his face, his eyes wide and pleading.

“Morty...” She began, and the tone of her voice only made him panic even worse.

“I have a study-date with Jessica!” Morty exclaimed, thin arms flailing. “I— I’ve been talking about it for weeks! I wrote a note on the fridge!”

Rick scoffed. “Oh, I’m sorry, _Morty._ I must have forgotten your raging teenaged hormones come before any once-in-a-lifetime-adventures!”

“You do this, Rick! You— You always have to go and— You always gotta do this! You know, sometimes I think you do it on pur—“

“I’ll go.”

Rick and Morty stopped in their tracks. Even Summer froze, letting the fiberglass rectangle in her hand fall from her fingers onto the cushion below.

“Mom?” The teenager quirked a questioning brow, as if she’d somehow managed to mishear things.

Beth straightened her spine, cleared her throat so that they could all hear her clearly this time.

“I said I’ll go—If you still want me to... that is.” She added sheepishly, suddenly wincing without meaning to.

Morty looked like he might faint with relief. His eyes fluttered closed and he let out a breath so heavy and loud that Beth could practically see it.

Rick physically shook himself out of his initial shock, then reached forward to lie a hand flat over the curve of his daughter’s shoulder.

“Oh, Sweetie.” He crooned, voice soft and honeyed; just the way it always was when he needed something from her. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

Something swelled in Beth’s chest. She wasn’t quite sure whether or not it was excitement or fear, bubbles of emotion that seemed to rise and lodge in her throat when Rick grabbed her by the wrist and raised it over their heads, like two proud winners of a contest. 

“Father and daughter adventure! Father and daughter adventure, everybody! Rick and Beth, one-hundred years! One-hundred years of— of Rick and Beth from now on!”

Beth used her free hand to stifle a childlike giggle, that shining look in Rick’s eyes so foreign and new. She turned to glance back at her children to see their reactions; found that Summer’s attention had already long fizzled out like a candle in the dark. Morty on the other hand, just stood there, arms bent and breathing heavily; as though he was somehow afraid Rick might suddenly change his mind and force him to come along after all.

Muscles twisted deep in Beth’s belly; slow and cold, like the gentle coiling of a snake. She realized then that she too was afraid of Rick changing his mind and taking Morty instead. Only, it wasn’t out of an instinctual need to protect her son and let him be free to do regular teenaged activities. It was out of jealousy. Irrational, uncontrollable, guilt-inducing jealousy.

Her smile faded, and she dropped the hand at her mouth back down to her side.

“Well, uh, alright then, Dad,” she began, trying to distract herself from her thoughts, “I guess I’m ready to go when you are.”

Rick nodded, then all but snarled at Morty as he led Beth out towards the garage. His palm was rough, calloused from years of inventing and working with his hands; and Beth fought the urge to pull away before at last he crossed the threshold and let her arm fall free from his grip.

 


	2. Cosmic Knowledge, Ancient Mysteries

Beth could tell before they even made it to the garage that the thankfulness and excitement her father had just displayed was nothing but an act— just some quick ploy to try and make Morty feel disposable. She was the last resort, the person you take when absolutely no one else is pathetic enough to say ‘yes’ to you.

Head bowed, Beth waited awkwardly behind Rick as he quickly loaded several items into his ship. Again and again he bent himself in half to hoist inside about four cases of beer and two strange-looking tool-boxes, all the while never once saying another word aloud.

Should she have asked him if he needed any help? Beth didn’t know. Moments like this, one-on-one interactions with her father; though as welcome as they were, were always so foreign and uncomfortable to her. She wrung her hands together, trying as quietly as she could to clear her throat without drawing attention to herself.

Rick let out a quiet grunt of effort as he lifted another box, and it was then that Beth found her opening to finally ask the question burning in her mind.

“So... uh... What’s the big adventure?”

“Adven—? Ah. Yeah. That.” Rick stilled for a second, shoulders stiffening; like he was choosing his next words very carefully. “So it’s a little less of an adventure than it is just a quick trip across the galaxy then back.”

“Then why did you need m—“

“All I need you to do is come with me to one— maybe _three_ planets at the most.” Rick interrupted flatly, brushing off his hands before turning around to face her. “You just have to— Just gotta stay— Just gotta sit in the car while I procure a special item... And there’s the slightest chance that I might need you to drive us back home after I’ve found it.”

Beth crossed her arms, suddenly looking far more indignant than she’d intended. 

“Since when have _you_ ever needed a designated driver?”

“Since I decided to try and find one of the most obscure and volatile artifacts in the entire universe.” Rick snapped back, seeming suddenly just as annoyed. He took a quick swig from his flask before promptly belching, then motioned for his daughter to circle back around to the passenger side of the space-cruiser. “Now hurry up and get in— and you can go ahead and wipe that look of equal parts skepticism and judgment off your face while you’re at it. I’ve only got a few hours before some other slimy bastard gets his hands on that conformation. I don’t need you gettin’ all up in my grill about the intricacies of my _thoroughly-planned_ agenda.”

Beth rolled her eyes. A near-silent huff of air escaped through the part in her painted lips, and she sullenly obeyed by climbing inside before pulling the door shut behind her. The ship reeked of booze and old leather; empty cans piled up nearly all the way to her knees in the floorboard. There was a rip in her seat, uncomfortable and jagged beneath the thin layer of denim covering her thigh.

Suddenly struck with a pang of concern for both Summer and Morty, Beth fought the urge to ask if it was always like this— always in this dangerously disheveled state of beer-bottles and chaos— but instead decided to keep her teeth clamped firmly down on her tongue. She carefully buckled the worn-down clasp of her seatbelt, trying to remind herself to stop acting so unintentionally hostile and cold. She needed to be careful. She needed to focus on seeming as pleasant an adventure-partner as any her father had ever had.

There was a loud whirring as the garage-door slowly began to open up behind them. Rick flipped a switch, then backed up on screeching wheels into the bright sunlight of the driveway outside.

It was a gorgeous morning— the most beautiful Seattle had seen in a long while. Blue skies, chirping birds, children laughing and playing on the sidewalk. On a day like this Beth could almost forget that she was still nursing a hangover from all the wine she had drank last night before bed.

Slowly and rather unsteadily the man-made space craft finally began to rise. A question danced on the tip of her tongue, and before she could think of stopping herself she asked, “If you have your portal gun, then why do you need a ship?”

“What was that, Sweetie?” Rick asked flatly before letting out another quiet burp.

“Your ship... Why do you need it if you can just teleport anywhere you want to go? I mean, wouldn’t it be a lot faster to just walk through a portal and be there instantaneously; rather than having to spend all this time flying there yourself?”

Her father paused for a moment.

“You know you— y-you sure ask a lot of questions.” Rick wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, then muttered something else under his breath that she couldn’t quite catch. Before she could open her mouth to ask what it was he reached towards the dial on the radio, turned it up loudly, and leaned back in his seat.

Beth let out another unintentional sigh, disappointed in herself once again. She turned to stare out of the window and watched the ground below become smaller and smaller as the vessel rose clumsily towards the exosphere above.

It wasn’t her first time riding in her father’s ship, though the last time had been soured and muddled by the accompaniment of Jerry. They had been fighting like a pair of children in the backseat, and it had distracted her from soaking up a typical day in the life of Rick Sanchez. It was only now, on this ill-fated trip that she was free to look with brightened eyes and take everything in, and she did so with an admiration she’d had ever since she was a little girl. Her father had built this all by himself. _Her_ father— the scientist, the explorer, the most intelligent man in the universe.

The excitement from before returned like a crashing wave, because no matter the reason behind it, Rick had chosen her. This wasn’t going to be like Froopyland— some last-second shenanigan that he obviously wanted no part of— Beth could feel it. This was a real trip he was taking her on, something she may never be able to experience with him again. She turned back to steal a quick glance at the side of her father’s face, smiling with her eyes.

Beth had expected the trip to last only a few minutes— assumed that Rick’s ship contained some sort of hyperdrive that would blast them to their destination in only a matter of seconds— but was pleasantly surprised to find that it would actually take a while before finally reaching the first location. She enjoyed the time she got to spend with him without having to worry about sharing with either one of her children. She listened to the songs he played, tried to remember their names so she could find out what artists he liked. She even studied his habits as he raised the mouth of his flash to his lips, tried to see if she could see any parts of herself in him at all.

If she could mimic him. If she could just make him proud. If he saw that she’s worth something, maybe he wouldn’t ever leave without her again.

 _Jesus._ Beth tried to snap herself out of the somber haze she’d blanketed herself with, the thoughts making her eyes sting. She had to distract herself again, and figured the best way of doing it was by asking him another question.

“So, this artifact... Or um conformation— I think that’s what you called it— what exactly... is it?”

Rick mumbled some half-assed answer between belches and curse-words, explaining to her about some race of sadomasochistic beings called Vorbluxians— who, once every one-hundred years, would release a box that when opened could grant the finder the one thing they desired the most in any plane of existence.

“So it’s like Hellraiser?”

“What?” Rick scoffed, narrowing his eyes to glare over at his daughter. “N-No, it’s not like— Where did you even get that from anything that I said?”

Beth shrugged. “The sadomasochistic beings, the puzzle-box, the—“

“They’re not the same at all! When you open the Vorblux Conformation, you don’t— There aren’t— Thousands of tiny hooks don’t just burrow into your skin and rip you apart like Uncle Cotton, okay? None of that _‘Jesus wept’_ bullshit. It’s just a harmless box, and I’m going to find it before any other wormy little asshole gets his hands on it.”

“I don’t know, Dad.” The lines in Beth’s brow pulled together as she tilted her head to the side. “Just seems kind of... fictitious? To me?”

“Six months ago a fleet of talking heads threatened to annihilate our entire planet if Morty and I didn’t win some convoluted talent-show— and this is where you decide to draw the line?”

Beth fell silent for a moment.

“But... You’re sure you know how to find it?”

“Was ‘Men in Black II’ a joyless cash grab?”

“I uh... I don’t...”

“The answer is _yes,_ Beth.” Rick sighed, obviously hoping this would be the end of the conversation. “I know where to find it.”

It would only take about ten more minutes to reach the atmosphere of the first planet, Rick’s eyes widening and lighting up as they slowly approached their destination. From that high above the ground all Beth could see was white, like an unpainted ball of foam from one of Morty’s science-fair projects. She waited with her breath held tight in her chest, taken away by the surreality of being able to explore a planet that no other humans would likely ever be able to discover. She always tried to seem as indifferent as possible to her father’s accomplishments, not ever wanting him to see her as easily-impressed, but the sight of the alien soil slowly approaching the base of the ship made her whole fucking heart _soar._

The cruiser hovered over the ground for a few moments before dropping, taking Beth’s breath as they slammed the last few feet down onto the ground. It hadn’t been a trick of the eye when all she could see was blankness below; but instead the result of a snow-capped desert. She craned her neck to look all around the outside of the ship, able to see nothing but ice and frozen hills for as far as she was sure that either of them could walk.

Suddenly Beth’s blood began to race. What if they managed to get separated? How long would it be until either of them froze to death, trapped on an ice-planet with nothing to look forward to but blackened limbs and the death of every single nerve-ending in their bodies? What could the temperature even be in a place like this, so far away from any sign of a sun-like star?

She jerked her head towards her father, feeling her skin beginning to grow damp at the base of her hairline.

“So this whole thing is based on something that might not even _exist?”_

“Oh it exists alright.”

“But no one’s seen it— or even opened it— in almost a _century?”_ The fear fought its way through her voice, making her throat feel tight as she pushed out every word. “What if it doesn’t even do what it’s said to? What if it just melts your face off, like those nazis in Indiana Jones?”

Rick didn’t offer a response. He simply rolled his eyes, pressed a button to open the doors of the ship, and wasted no time in climbing his way out.

Beth braced herself for the sting of the cold, but instead found the air to feel just as warm as it had on the inside of her father’s craft. She raised a flattened palm to catch a snowflake as it danced to the ground, and when it didn’t melt against hers skin she suddenly realized why. This planet— it wasn’t covered with snow at all.

It was covered with _ash._

A smile graced her cheeks, her dark eyes widening with awe. Earlier on Rick had told her that all she had to do was wait for him in the ship, but when she chased curiously after him he didn’t once open his mouth to scold her.

A surge of hope flooded its way into her veins. Perhaps he had wanted her to join him. 

“This is weird.” Beth mused, practically spinning around like a child in the falling debris.

“It’s only gonna get—“ Rick paused to belch, “— a whole lot weirder, Sweetie.”

The two reached a precipice of sorts, and when Beth had nearly walked her way over it Rick’s arms had shot out to calmly snatch her by the shoulder and pull her back into safety. He then took a casual swig of his flask, and pulled out an unfamiliar-looking contraption from the inside of his jacket.

“Does it ever scare you that something like this could possibly exist?”

Rick was too busy working with the gadget in his hands to look up at her. “What’d’ya— what— what’d-ya mean?”

“The... Vorblux... Conformation,” Beth began, hoping she’d gotten the name of it right, “It doesn’t worry you at all that it could fall into the wrong hands?”

“Why the hell would it?”

“Oh I don’t know, _Dad._ Say if someone wishes the terrorist attacks on New York City had been more successful and—“

“First of all,” Rick interrupts with another burp, before suddenly stopping what he’s doing altogether, “It’s not a _wish,_ Beth. This isn’t _Neverland._ These aren’t magical fairies in a giant pink bubble, alright? These creatures they’re— They’re the real goddamned deal. They dig through your subconscious in a matter of a fucking _millisecond._ They know what your most pressing desire is even when you’re absolutely sure it had to be something else. There’s no time to think about it, or to try and troll an entire nation just for shits and giggles. And as for the World Trade Cent— nope. Never mind. Not even gonna go there.”

His eyes darted up again towards his daughter’s face, and as soon as their eyes met his shoulders dropped. If only for a split-moment he seemed to soften, returning his focus to the hunk of metal and electricity between his fingers.

“In my experience peoples’ desires aren’t that complex. They’re more shortsighted than that — simple, usually primal in nature... Selfish and basal and without any serious thought of consequence, whether it be good or catastrophic.” 

“Can they bring someone back from the dead?”

“The Vorbluxians?” Rick shrugged. “I mean, I guess. If they can manipulate matter the way they’re said to be able to, I don’t know why reanimating a corpse would be out of the question.” 

His fingers danced over a keypad on the instrument, and suddenly a long pole shot out from the bottom of it. Rick slammed it in to the ashy ground with a grunt, piercing through the earth with as little resistance as a sponge.

“Of course, then you’d probably get into all that Pet Sematary territory— you know, is it really still them; or is it some fucked-up clone without any identifiable traits from their previous form. From what I’ve heard they always try to make some kind of a lesson out of it. You know, be careful what you wish for, or some kind of pedantic shit to make themselves feel undeservedly superior.”

Beth smiled inwardly. If those alien-creatures thought they were going to be able to teach Rick Sanchez a lesson, they certainly had another thing coming. She’d seen him beat too many systems, overthrow too many governments, and destroy too many enemies to watch him roll-over to some race of intergalactic genies. No, whatever they had in mind for Rick, it certainly wasn’t going to go the way that they expected it to.

Suddenly Beth felt something churn in her stomach, like soured milk behind the walls of her belly. Her heart fell and cracked open in her chest, mouth parted and dry; getting her own hopes up for something she knew would never actually happen. She was stupid to think that Rick’s one true desire could ever be to bring her mother back, and chased the thought away with clenched fists and eyes.

It was like Rick had said; the desires were usually selfish. As much as she wished it weren’t true, her father was the most selfish man she had ever met in her life.

“It’s not here.” His words suddenly cut through Beth’s thoughts like a hot knife through butter. “Let’s get back to the ship and hope some other lucky bastard hasn’t gotten ahold of it yet.”

“I thought you said you knew where it was.”

“Yeah.” Rick huffed. “On one of three planets.”

“Can’t you just use one of your little gadgets to scan which one it could be on?”

“Beth, don’t you think that if I could, I would have fucking done that already? Don’t you think I’d be floating in a sea of redheads and vodka right about now?”

“Wait. Are the redheads also floating in the vodka? Or is the vodk—“

“That’s not the point!”

Beth couldn’t help but flinch, and once again Rick got ahold of himself enough to try and calm down. He cleared with throat with a wet-cough against the back of his sleeve, compacting the tool he’d stuck into the ground back down into its original size.

“Look, Sweetie— it’s just— you just— You really don’t have to stress yourself out about any of this. You’re a glorified designated driver. I have no idea what could happen after I open up that configuration-box. I could be— I-I-I-I could be temporarily blinded by the wonders that are held inside— and that’s why I need you to focus on just getting us the hell out of there.”

“Alright, alright.” Beth huffed in annoyance as she followed him back to the now cinder-covered ship. “I get it— you can’t stand being asked a few simple questions.” She brushed her fingers through her hair and tried to shake away as much of the ashes as she could. “What on earth do you say to Morty when he wants to know the specifics of one of your little adventures?”

“I say nothing... because I don’t—” Rick paused to let out the longest belch he’d made all evening, “— eurrrp, don’t have to. Little shit’s gotten a lot better at knowing when to just listen instead of talking my fucking ear off all day. Now come on, get in before I miss my one-in-a-hundred-years opportunity to find this thing.”

Beth rolled her eyes. Suddenly, she found herself hoping that the next planet truly would be the last they’d have to search.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the incredibly short chapters. I’d originally intended for this to be a single-chapter, but I’m not very confident in my writing of Rick & Morty fanfics yet— so for the size and subject matter I had in mind I just kept finding myself feeling extremely overwhelmed and insecure of what I was writing. By doing this, and tackling small sections at a time, I feel a lot more at ease. I’m so excited for the next few chapters, as dark or as twisted as they may be.


	3. Scary Fucking Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some violence and straight-up murder in this chapter

The younger of the pair had been excited at the beginning of the trip, that was true, but nearly two hours of being brushed off like a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe had made Beth grow bitter and weary. There would be nothing else to look forward to but more caustic remarks, more ungratefulness, and more resent— by now she was absolutely sure of it. There was nothing. This trip had meant nothing. 

More than fed up with the unpleasant whirring of the ship’s engine as they climbed into the air, Beth decided to play a little music to liven things up again. She reached over towards the auxiliary cord that had been connected to Rick’s phone on the journey towards the ashen planet, but before her fingers even made contact her father suddenly snatched it away.

“I’ve already looked through your dumb little Spotify playlist.” Rick chided, gripping the cord possessively between his fingers. “About three of the songs are tolerable and the rest are annoying _garbage.”_

Hurt slapped through Beth’s pride like a palm to the cheek. She couldn’t stop herself from twisting up her mouth into a terrible frown, sending Rick a glare that could have melted steel in her wake.

She knew it. She fucking _knew it._ What an idiot she had been for thinking today was going to somehow be different from any other. How naive she was for fantasizing about how they would magically be able to bond like one the fathers and daughters on those shitty Lifetime movies she watched late at night after work. She had been too stupid for her own good, and today had been nothing but a complete waste of a Saturday morning because of it. If she hadn’t been convinced already that today would be futile, she sure as shit certainly was now.

Beth turned her cheek to stare blindly out through the window, her vision blurring out from the rush of anger that coursed its way through her body. She was tired. She was frustrated. She was hungry— Oh _God_ was she hungry. Like a fool she had forgotten to grab a bite to eat before they left the house, even though it had been the sole reason for her to creep downstairs in the first place before Rick had decided to try and drag her along. Her belly felt hot and tight behind her skin, sour from all the wine she had drank last night after dinner.

As if it were on some kind of malevolent cue, Beth’s stomach immediately began to roar. She crossed her arms over it and squeezed, unable to understand why she felt so embarrassed by the sound. It growled again a few minutes later, quieter that time, and she hoped the worst of it was now over with.

If it had been anyone else sitting beside her she was sure she wouldn’t have given a tummy-rumbling so much as a second fucking thought, but this wasn’t anyone. This was Rick Sanchez, and she had once seen Rick forget the word for ‘human.’

“Here.”

Beth flinched as Rick suddenly reached across her without warning, raising her arms up in a flash of panic like someone who’d just been caught doing something wrong. His long, spidery fingers opened the console in front of her. He dug around for a moment before tearing out a foil-covered rectangle riddled with some language she’d never seen before.

Her eyes lit up with delight when she realized it was a candy-bar. She reached out to accept it with darkened cheeks, unable to help the smile that graced its way across the width of her face. Maybe it was pathetic, but it didn’t matter to her; her heart was warmed by the small gesture of kindness.

Before she could open her mouth to thank him Rick was already trying to brush it off. “Morty he’s— y-y-y-you know the kid he’s always— always bitching my ear off about how he’s hungry all the time. Whiny little shit.”

Jerry would have never let a comment like that go uncontested, but Beth could tell from the way Rick’s voice softened over her son’s name that “whiny little shit” was supposed to be a term of endearment. Beth turned her head back to the window, and felt the wounds Rick had inflicted upon her pride today suddenly heal over again. She knew her father well enough to know that if he truly resented Morty then he wouldn’t ask for the teenager to ever come along on his adventures. It was clear that Rick loved the boy, in his own dysfunctional way, and the thought of her father caring so much for something she’d created was almost surreal.

Beth closed her eyes as she chewed the oddly sour chocolate-and-nougat-filled bar between her jaws, savoring every last bite. Rick still hadn’t made any move to play his own music after snatching away the aux cord, and the trip to this next location had already gone on for far longer than the last. Five more minutes went by in total and utter silence. Then another five.

And then another.

Rick tried his best to keep his brow furrowed and expression hardened, but Beth could tell in the way his jaw had begun to slacken that he was already starting to get drunk. His eyes had started to return to their normal glassy sheen, staring dully into the stars out in front of him as he steered the ship. It was then that she decided to take all of his previous acts of contempt as nothing more than the grumblings of a raging alcoholic who hadn’t yet had enough to drink. He almost looked tired, and before they finally reached seeing-distance of the next planet Beth was certain he was a hairline away from nodding off behind the wheel. 

“Is that the second planet?”

Rick answered with a curt nod, the side of his fist over his mouth as he fought back a belch. “Hopefully the last.” 

The landing process was no gentler than the one before it. Rick descended towards the unfamiliar world beneath them, traveling almost painfully slow before all but slamming into the ground during the last few feet to go.

She half-expected to be told that she had to wait there this time, yet was pleasantly surprised when Rick stood outside the ship to wait for her. It appeared as if he’d livened up a bit since the landing, but still looked more than ready to find the conformation. Though, Beth wasn’t entirely sure that she could blame him. Anyone else would be practically vibrating with excitement at the chance to have the thing they wanted most in this world.

Beth sighed. It felt good to finally stretch her legs again. She followed Rick like a little lost dog as he headed towards nowhere in particular.

If the last planet had been likened to Antarctica, then this one would be best described as the Sahara. Hard, coarse sand painted the desert red. There were no hills or mountains or any distinguishable landmarks to be searched, only enormous rocks nearly as tall as her nose as far as the eye could see. Large, gaping cracks littered the expanse of the earth around them, some so wide Beth found herself nearly having to almost leap just to step over them. There didn’t seem to be a drop of moisture in sight, but the stagnant air felt thick and heavy with rain. The scent of freshly-watered flowers filled her nostrils, and she remembers wishing she could somehow bottle up the smell and take it back home with her.

Beth watched her elderly father as he walked through the desert; the way his arms swung down by his sides, the way his hips moved each time he took another step. She could remember doing this when she was just a little girl, trying to mimic the way he carried himself. So much confidence, so much vigor; she felt something tug at a thread in her heart. Beth couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be just like him.

All of his adventures, all of his experiments, all of his fucked-up ambitions and venom-tipped words that cut people down and made them respect him even if they wanted to send a knife through his eye. All of his intelligence and creativity, all of the things he was able to take for himself, even this— even this selfish fucking goal.

 _The Vorblux Conformation._ Beth repeated it quietly again and again to herself, hoping she was even saying the right combination of words. She still had questions, and they ached like fresh sores at the back of her mind. She knew any further questions about the elusive box would only be met with contempt, but after a few more minutes of walking she finally found the will to not care.

“Hey Dad?”

Rick tilted his head to the left as he continued walking, just enough to let her know that he had heard her.

“One last thing about the Vorblux Conformation…”

“For the love of Christ, Beth, w-w-what’d’ya want from me?”

“Say if I wished— or uh desired, for David Beckham—

“David _Beckham?”_

“— David Beckham,” Beth repeated firmly, hands clenching into fists as they swung down by her sides, “to come to this planet and ask me to marry him... He would have to somehow come here and do it?”

“It’s that or be taken back to the Vorbluxian’s dimension of eternal suffering and sexual-depravity.”

Beth stopped in her tracks, a look of horror seated in the features of her face. In contrast to the evident revulsion of his daughter, Rick shot back a disinterested glance as he continued to saunter along the edge of the cracks in the bone-dry earth.

Once he heard that his daughter was no longer closely following him, he noticeably began to slow down.

“It’s the same thing as if my greatest desire was for Dick Cheney to come and tongue-punch my asshole after singlehandedly performing the entire script to Scanners.”

Beth quirked a brow. “Is _that_ your greatest desi—“

“No! Of course not. Why in the fuck would I ever want that _ever?”_ Rick finally stopped walking, if only to turn around and shoot Beth the slightest of indignant sneers. “I’m just saying that if it was... Then yes. Dick Cheney would have to physically be teleported here in order to do that.”

Long, blonde hair bounced as Beth shook her head in refusal. It still didn’t make sense, not to her at least.

“If they can manipulate matter... then why does it have to be the actual person? Why don’t they just... you know, clone a temporary version of Dick Cheney? That way he doesn’t actually have to do anything against his will?” 

Rick shrugged.

“I think it’s some mumbo jumbo about the parallels between one being’s pleasure and another being’s pain— but who gives a—“ a burp split through the center of his sentence, sending spatters of saliva out into the air in front of him, “— shit? If this is what keeps those slimy motherfuckers occupied for a hundred years at a time I say let ‘em do whatever they want.” Rick paused again to take a quick swig from his flask before shoving it back down into the outer pocket of his lab-coat. “It’s better than destroying entire planets in pursuit of sadomasochistic enlightenment, which they have done before— many times. I’d say getting down and dirty for some random stranger’s asshole is a small price to pay for a century’s worth of peace between galaxies.”

“I don’t know, Dad.” Beth crinkled her brow, still visibly disgusted by the concept. “Seems kind of... I don’t know... a little _rape-y?”_

Rick shoved his hands into his pockets before turning back around to keep searching.

“The universe is a rape-y place.”

By now whatever star this planet utilized as a sun was planted firmly in the dead-center of the sky. It beat down upon Beth’s head like a scalding shower, making her hair nearly too-hot to the touch when she tried to brush it back from her face. It was sweltering. Beth could feel the fabric of her shirt beginning to cling to her skin, and fought the urge to ask if she could peel off her top and walk around in her bra as they searched. After all, Rick was wearing a fucking jacket without even breaking so much as a single bead of sweat. If he could handle the heat with that much self-control and poise, then Beth was determined to do so as well. 

Beth continued to follow Rick as he walked, but she hindered her pace enough so that she could drop a bit of a ways behind him to keep from perspiring more than she had to. Suddenly he mumbled something to himself, so quiet she almost hadn’t even noticed that he was talking.

“What was that?”

“Wh-what did you say back there, Sweetie?” Rick answered her with a question, and Beth screwed up her face in confusion.

“Didn’t you just say something?”

“No.” 

Beth slowed to a stop. She was almost certain that the desert heat of the planet was starting to play tricks on her mind, but sure enough as soon as her footsteps went silent there it was again— like the sound of a garbled radio playing somewhere far out in the distance.

“I hear voices.” Beth half-whispered, muscles turning to steel around her bones. “What does that mean?”

At last Rick halted. He narrowed his eyes into slits, listening intently before suddenly squaring his shoulders.

“Means we’re not the first lifeforms to find this place.”

A few moments passed of nothing but silence, then out of nowhere Rick threw an arm out like a bar in front of Beth’s chest. His hand was raised flat, as though trying to warn her not to make a sound or take another step. What had only just a moment ago seemed to be alcohol-induced exhaustion suddenly changed to razor-sharp alertness, like a wolf that had just gotten a trace of fresh blood wafting in the air.

His eyes were trained on something in the distance. Beth squinted as hard as she could, and sure enough there they all were; a swarm of odd-looking creatures in bright orange suits, each one no bigger than the size of Morty from head to toe. They were all chirping at each other in some undistinguishable alien language, a few of them pacing back and forth while the others dug into the earth with clawed feet.

All at once the pair ducked down behind one of the tall desert-rocks, but by then Beth could already tell that it was too late. When she peered up over the edge she was met with narrowed eyes and pricked ears. They were all staring right at them. The emerald scales on their backs tilted up straight, like angry cats with their fur standing on end. Low growls ignited to life in their throats, thousands of needle-like fangs spilling out behind snarled lips. Whatever those things were, they looked dangerous, and they certainly didn’t look happy to see that someone else had found this hidden-away planet along with them.

“We come in peace!” Beth suddenly shouted with arms raised high over her head in surrender. She’d barely even managed to finish her sentence before Rick fired a blast at one of the creature’s heads, sent tiny fragments of skull and brain-matter bursting out like confetti in the air. _“Jesus,_ Dad! What the hell?”

Rick didn’t waver. Once again he shot the weapon in his hand with expert precision, ejecting bursts of light that nearly stung Beth’s eyes as she watched in shock at the events unfolding before her. Rick rolled out from behind the safety of the boulder like something from a spy-flick, only able to get out a few more unchallenged shots before the aliens began furiously launching back at him.

The beams from their weapons were different, less explosive, and it was obvious that they were more primitive than whatever it was that Rick was wielding. Another shot fired only centimeters over the top of her head. She was certain that if she dared to raise a hand to her roots she’d find a few strands of hair had been completely singed off.

She turned away to press her back flat against the side of the boulder, chest heaving with the abruptness of the battle raging on around her. Beth could feel her heart galloping against the walls of her chest, unsure of whether or not they’d eventually be able to blast their way through the rock that she was currently taking cover behind.

“Don’t just fucking stand there like a tampon in the wind, come over here and actually help me!”

The grating sound of her father’s voice was muffled, almost like something out of a dream. It took her nearly ten seconds to finally turn her head towards him, for her to finally register exactly what it was that he was wanting of her.

Rick shoved a second weapon out into Beth’s hands so hard she nearly dropped it, a finger hooking clumsily into the trigger and firing a bolt of violet heat mere inches from the toe of her own shoe. At last she managed to steady it, holding it in her arms like one of the Star Wars themed laser-guns that Morty used to play with as a little boy.

“Shoot ‘em!” The sound of Rick’s raised voice cut through her thoughts like one of the blasts from his weapon. “Now, Beth, shoot ‘em! Shoot ‘em they’re just—!“

Rick’s mouth fell open as his daughter furrowed her brows and began rapidly firing without another moment to waste. She knew him well enough to tell that he was readying to lie about how the beings in front of them were actually unfeeling robots with no sense of pain or mortality, but Beth couldn’t have cared less either way.

All the fear she’d felt only moments ago vanished into thin air, and in all honesty the feeling of that gun in her hands felt fucking _good._ She blasted a hole through one of the scrawny alien’s heads, almost growling as she mowed down every last one that she could see. The bloodlust that she’d long fought to bury deep down as a child— the same blood-lust that had been temporarily reawakened during her massacre of the Froopyland creatures— now returned like a crimson wave crashing over Beth’s body. One of the alien’s arms were blown away by her weapon, cauterized immediately by the heat of the blast. Eyes burst out from their sockets, thick blood squirting out from their unusual veins. Rick may have been more accurate through the quarrel but Beth certainly made up for it with sheer and unadulterated ferocity.

Soon, the only few that were left began to desperately chitter to each other like hunted rats, realizing they had bitten off far more than they could chew by fighting instead of fleeing, but when Rick didn’t let up firing then neither did she. In the end all that was left was a limp pile of slime-covered carnage and laser-fried scales. She took it upon herself to fire a last shot into every single corpse and detached body-part, just to make sure they were all actually dead.

A rush of adrenaline course through her heart when she realized they had finally won whatever territorial death-match her father had set into motion. She turned towards him, beaming, and pursed her lips together to blow a wisp of smoke away from the mouth of her gun.

“Perks of having a scary fucking kid.” She remarked, smirking to herself.

Rick smiled. He wasn’t horrified with what he’d just seen. He was proud of her. He was actually fucking proud.

A loud gulp sounded in his throat as he took a large drink from his flask. He looked around for a moment, scanning the area before suddenly shrugging. Beth wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, but he pulled that odd-looking instrument he’d used back at the last planet and once again shoved the metal stake of it right into the ground. They waited for a moment, Beth’s eyes watching a screen beep with unfamiliar characters and symbols, before a flash of red made its way across the tiny monitor.

Rick let out a sigh as he grumbled that the conformation wasn’t there either, but instead of seeming resentful of all they’d just gone through, he almost looked happy. Beth chalked it up to optimism, and the knowledge that the treasure he sought would have to be located on the next planet.

The pair hurried their way back to the ship, realizing now that finding the box would only be a matter of racing against anyone else who was lucky enough to deduce the final planet. Immediately Beth realized another reason to be thankful for Rick taking her along instead of her son. It would have likely been torturous for the boy to have to watch someone else get the thing they wanted most in this world, knowing that it would be another hundred years before anyone else had the chance. That feeling of watching someone open up birthday presents multiplied by infinity, knowing you were dragged along just to watch a bitter old man fulfill his selfish dreams.

Beth buckled up into her seat, and was surprised when her father did so as well. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him wear a seatbelt, and knew it had to be some kind of gesture of peace.

Her heart skipped in her chest when he suddenly turned towards her, eyes uncharacteristically warm as he praised her. “You know, that was— that was real good work you did back there, Sweetie. Really— really helped your ole dad out there.”

Pride tugged at the corners of Beth’s lips. Maybe this trip hadn’t been a waste after all. She was happy. They were happy.

“Thanks, Dad.” She replied as serenely as she knew how, unconsciously rubbing her upper arms with her hand.

Blushing again, she turned and looked away.

Rick didn’t.


	4. Some Terrible Thrills

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where the archive warnings *REALLY* come into play! Check them again just to be sure! I know this fic has seemed relatively wholesome up until now, but I cannot stress enough the fact that you should turn back now if any of the warnings squick you. Very very graphic content ahead. Please, please, please, please, please be warned and read at your own risk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beth could feel her father’s gaze on the back of her head, like tiny hands running their fingers through her hair. It filled her with warmth, made her pull her bottom-lip between her teeth to keep from smiling.

As soon as she turned around to face him his eyes darted back to the wheel. His expression hardened again, as though he were trying to pretend the fatherly praise he’d given moments before was nothing but a lapse in his judgement. It did nothing to deter Beth though, and this time she reached towards the auxiliary cord without even hesitating.

“Beth, Sweetie, I-I-I already told you; there’s noth—“

Her father’s scowl suddenly transformed to a look of uncertainty, then melted into something that almost resembled a smile once he recognized the beat.

“Oh-ho-ohhh oh, yes!” Rick couldn’t help himself from becoming exuberant as soon as the lyrics dropped, throwing a hand up to enunciate the rhythm of the song. “You gimme your number, I call you up— You act like yo pussy don’t interrupt!”

“I don’t have no problem with you fuckin’ me, but I have with a little problem with you _not fuckin’ me!”_

“Baby you know I’mma take care of you!”

“Cuz you say you got my baby and I know it ain’t true!”

“Is it a good thing? No, it’s bad bitch! For good or worse! Makes makes you switch!”

The two of them took turns singing every other verse, all but physically dancing in their seats. Beth wasn’t sure if it was simply Rick’s general excitement of knowing he was about to receive the thing he wanted most in this world, or if it was genuine happiness that had spurred him on. He turned up the volume until the base vibrated through the seats, raising his voice as they sung along with the hook of the song.

“Hey! _Dirty!_ Baby, I gotcha _money—_ Don't you _worry!_ I said hey! Baby, I got ya money!”

Beth couldn’t remember the last time she and her father had ever had a moment like this, so joyous and pure and lost in the minute. Rick looked impressed again as she didn’t miss a single word, breathless and laughing by the time it was finally over.

“Hey.”

Rick’s voice, low and tempered, caught Beth by surprise as she whipped her head over to look at him.

“If all goes well today with the Vorbluxians, and I’m not like, you know, turned into a fuckin’ lamp or something... You and I should go get a drink later.”

Beth felt a bubble of excitement in her chest. Her father only ever asked her to join him for a drink once before, and it had ended up being an eventless endeavor— one she had figured someone as exciting as Rick would never again care to repeat.

“Really? Like back at home?”

“Yeah! Wh-why not?” Rick flashed that uncharacteristic smile again, nodding before turning back towards the wheel. “Shoney’s again?”

Beth beamed.

_“Absolutely.”_

It would take only a few more minutes for the pair to reach their destination. A small sphere in the distance grew larger as Rick cruised on, and Beth could already tell that this world was marginally smaller than either one of the others.

Rick mused a flat “Tah-dah,” at the tail-end of a belch as they entered the mass of air surrounding the orb.

Beth gaped. She was suddenly glad that the conformation hadn’t been hidden away on either of the other planets, for if it had then she wouldn’t have been able to see the vast wonder that waited before her. Half of the small sphere was covered with pale blue water, like something Beth had only ever seen in those gorgeous oceans on the travel channel. The other half was marbled with vibrant color, splatters of magenta and cerulean and a thick line of violet where land met the edge of the sea. The dark black contrast of space against the world of iridescence and beauty was a sight to behold, and the blonde couldn’t help but gasp as she leaned forward towards the dashboard.

The landing there was the smoothest of any Rick had made all day, and Beth couldn’t help but feel impressed knowing that by then her father was nearly an entire-flask deep.

“This is it.” Rick stated confidently as they stepped out of the ship, eyes wide and pupils blown out. “We did it, Sweetie. You and your old man. We really— Really knocked this thing out of the park here.”

The pair turned toward each other, and the warmth Beth found in her father’s eyes was almost enough to make her tear up at the sight. They stayed there, frozen for a meaningful moment, and she knew then that she had finally done the one thing she had only ever dreamed of before. She had finally proved to him how strong she could be, how useful and worth having around. She wasn’t just one of infinite daughters. She was important. She was different. She meant something.

Today had ended perfectly, every brick falling perfectly into its place.

Rick was the first to break the exchange as he started off into the jungle ahead. In place of grass or earthy-soil the ground was layered with violet sand, and it gave way beneath her shoes with every step she took forward. 

It was like the Garden of Eden. There was something in the air there, electric, intoxicating; making the hairs on Beth’s arms stand on end. Though it had been years since she’d even been around it, Beth calmly noted that the air smelt like gasoline— tasted like cocaine as it clung to the back of her throat. Her eyes became even more opened to the stunning landscape around her as the pair trekked on. The trees grew tall and thick overhead, trunks mangled and striped with beautiful and vibrant colors. Odd-shaped fruits grew plump and ripe at the ends of fur-covered vines, and tiny winged insects danced in the sky as far as the eye could see.

Rick cleared his throat.

“It’s more than likely that The Vorblux Conformation itself won’t be a literal box— so watch your— k-keep you eyes peeled— and don’t touch anything that looks like it might awaken a race of incredibly powerful beings.”

Beth nodded, too distracted to realize he wouldn’t be able to see it from that far up ahead. She paced timidly through the alien jungle like a child in a jewelry store, fearful of stepping down too harshly or touching anything at all.

Rick, on the other hand, strutted through the ferns with total confidence; flipping over rocks and knocking down branches with his bare and calloused hands. There was a fire beneath his feet, driving him forward with fervor and excitement. He was only a few more moments away from finding what he had come here for, and it was as apparent as anything Beth had ever seen.

Beth smiled. She truly was happy for him. All those years of never knowing what it was that he truly wanted out of anything, searching the ends of the universe for something to take away the emptiness that lied inside of him, were finally about to come to an end. Rick may not have known what he wanted the most in any plane of existence, but the Vorbluxians certainly did, and it felt like a great burden was about to be suddenly lifted from them both.

She loved him. He was her father, _her_ father, and she loved him more than she thought he would ever be able to know.

“If you don’t even know what it looks like, then how on earth are we supposed to know what we should even be looking for?”

Rick didn’t answer. She figured he was probably distracted, running his hands over nearly every crevice and mound of sand he could find. He plucked the fruit from the plants, ripped out the seeds, becoming more and more frenzied as he searched for his treasure.

In turn, Beth carefully surveyed every inch of the jungle, only taking a step forward whenever she was certain she’d studied over every possible item. She had wanted more than anything to be the one lead him right to the artifact itself, but the deeper they went the more distracted she let herself become.

The sand began to sparkle beneath her feet. The wind whistled in her ears, filling up her mind with what almost sounded like wind-chimes around her. There were carvings in all of the trees, beautiful ornate designs stamped with alien languages that she wondered if even Rick had ever seen before, and she stopped suddenly in her tracks to admire them.

She saw the shapes of humans, of earth-dwelling creatures, and dozens of life forms she couldn’t even begin to identify. How much work this would have taken someone to do by hand made her shake her head in astonishment.

At last she turned away only to find an even more stunning work of art etched into the tree growing just to the right of her. The marks on this one were far more familiar to her, shapes of hearts and things she was certain she had seen before in her every day life. Diamonds, butterflies, sunflowers, dragons— even necklaces that she swore she had once owned before herself.

“Hey.” Beth murmured, eyes gleaming as she took in the sight of the jeweled chain carved carefully into the trunk. “This one looks just like something Mom gave me when I was a girl.”

Rick let out a little “hmmf,” of acknowledgment, not even bothering to glance over at her.

She wanted to take a picture of it, but when she reached for her pocket she realized she’d left her phone all the way back at the ship. A disappointed sigh left her lips, and before she could even think about it the hand at her side went out to trace the lines of the artwork before her.

Rick glanced over, and his eyes went wide with panic.

“No! Wait! That could be the—“

Beth let out a gasp as the necklace suddenly fell free from the bark of the tree, let it slip gracelessly from her fingers and onto the sand in front of her feet. She backed away in horror, subconsciously gripping hold of Rick’s sleeve in an attempt to pull him back with her.

A terrible wind ripped through the air around them, whipping their hair all the way to the right side of both of their heads. A zap of electricity coursed through the sky as it darkened, and what looked to be an enormous projection on the clouds above suddenly glowed to life.

The Vorbluxians, Beth realized as she brought a hand up to her mouth. There were three of them, tall and dressed in black robes, like holograms staring down into the vast expanse of jungle beneath. Their skin was faded under the dimness of the projection, but she could see that it had once been a bright yellow, beautifully patterned, like the scaled back of a lizard. Their heads were nearly five times the width of any human’s, and they stretched into two points at their temples. Later, Beth would realize they almost looked like a small bunch of lemons.

The necklace floated up into the sky, disappearing into the clouds behind the holograms.

A terrible growl spilled out from behind her father’s teeth. He slapped a hand over his face, dragging it down to pinch at the bridge of his nose. 

“One hundred fucking years.” Rick hissed, bitter and annoyed. “All that fucking work— all down the goddamned drain.”

Beth shook her head frantically, still not understanding, still not grasping what was happening right there in front of her. She hadn’t opened anything. She hadn’t solved anything. All she had done was touch it.

“Wait— N-n-n-no, this— This can’t be right I— I-I-I can give it to you, right? I can decline it and I can— I can just give it on over to you, right, Dad? Right?”

Rick crossed his arms and shook his head, envy evident in the horrible look on his face.

Beth, in turn, fell suddenly down to her knees.

“Better l-l-live it up, Sweetie. Try not to—“ belch, “—gloat too much on the ride home.” 

Her father turned back to stare up at the sky before chugging the rest of his flask. Disappointment took place of the jealousy that had just been there, and he watched with boredom as the Vorbluxians congratulated the opener of their conformation.

“Congratulations, human life-form _Beth Smith.”_ The voice sounded surprisingly pleasant and female, but the way it spoke her name sounded like it was reciting a curse. “You have opened our conformation, and are hereby entitled to your one true desire. If you should refuse your desire, you will taken back with us to our dimension of sexual enlightenment—”

“Enlightenment my ass.” Rick grumbled under his breath. “More like a shitfest of endless fucking torture.”

“—If the object of your desire should refuse to be utilized, it will in turn be taken back to our dimension of sexual enlightenment. We will then be forced to grant you your second-most pressing desire. Do you understand and accept our terms as we have given them to you?”

Beth didn’t answer. She didn’t even move.

Rick waited to hear a squeal of excitement, or a boisterous string of gloating words as his daughter jumped up and down on the sand, but after another few moments passed the air was startlingly quiet. When at last he looked down at Beth’s face, he almost didn’t even recognize the woman he saw before him. Skin a blistering red, mascara smudged and trailing black down her cheeks; he’d never seen someone look so fucking distraught— so fucking horrified at the chance of getting something they wanted more than anything.

“Wait.” Rick froze, twisting his face up in confusion. “What the hell?”

“Beth Smith.” The voice from the clouds repeated once more. It was firm, intimidating, like the automated voice at the end of a countdown. “Do you understand and accept our—“

“Yes.” The blonde breathed, half-choking on a sob. “Yes, I— I accept.”

The tears fell like rain. Ashamed, terrified, guilty, disgusted. Hands shaking violently, it took everything inside of her not to vomit right there on the sand below her knees. Today had been everything she wanted it to be, and now it was about to become something that would stain her dreams haunted for the rest of her natural life.

“Human life-form Rick Sanchez from dimension C-137. You are hereby summoned to the planet of Stungaar in order to sexually satisfy our recipient. You are required to take part in an act of vaginal intercourse, where you alone will be required to reach completion. Do you accept the terms of our instructions as they have been given to you?” 

Rick let out a weird little laugh. Beth had never seen him make a sound like that before in her life, and he took a step back as if he were trying to process the arrangement of words that had just assaulted his eardrums. Then his mouth tightened. His eyes widened into saucers, and all at once his jaw fell open beneath his lips. The ashen color left the skin of his face, and his arms dropped to his sides in utter disbelief. It took only another few moments for the horror to finally set in, and as Beth began to weep her father became undone. 

“Oh God, Beth, wh-what have you done to me?!” His hands flew to his head, clawed-fingers burying into the long strands of blue-gray hair on top of his scalp. “D-disgusting! I’m gonna puke! I swear to God I’m gonna fucking puke!”

The Vorbluxian repeated his name, but Rick was in too much of a frenzy to even bother looking up at it.

“Beth, you crazy bitch, I’m your _father!_ Wh-What if you had to fuck Morty? Or— or- or- or Summer?! You can’t ask me to do this! Beth you can’t— You can’t actually want this! This is all some kind of mistake!” Rick turned to glare at the trio of aliens above. “Your configuration must be fucked all to hell!”

“All configurations are final.”

Rick froze again. Suddenly a look of fury painted over his revolted features, and he drew out his weapon faster than Beth could even blink. She waited to see the familiar blast of light burst out from the end of the gun the way it had on the planet before this, but instead Rick’s hand was suddenly empty. The elder snarled loudly in frustration, immediately trying to fire another weapon before watching it dissolve in his hand.

Rick hadn’t been lying. The Vorbluxians were just as cruel and as powerful as he had described them to her. They controlled this place somehow, and if they claimed they could take someone to an eternity of sadomasochistic suffering, Beth was suddenly certain that they could truly do it.

The scientist stared at the sky with clenched fists, chest heaving as he bared them his teeth.

“Do you accept?” The female Vorbluxian pressed, and from the tone of her voice Beth was sure it was going to be the last time she would ever be willing to ask. “You are welcome to decline, and be taken back with us. Would you like us to repeat the terms of your possible declination?”

Rick paused for a moment, as if he was actually fucking considering it. His face went numb as he cast his head down, staring at the vibrant earth beneath his feet. It was clear that whatever these beings were, he hadn’t ever been prepared to have to stand up against them in any way. It was the first time in Beth’s life she had ever seen him find a problem he couldn’t lie, cheat, or murder his way out of. It was the first time she’s ever seen him so helpless.

Beth closed her eyes. She couldn’t stand to see the look on his face. He had expected this to be one of the greatest days of his life, and Beth had fucking ruined it.

“Turn around.”

Slowly, Beth opened her eyes to blink stupidly up at him.

“Wh-what?”

“Turn around.” Rick repeated, shaking his head in unveiled distaste. “I— I can’t— I can’t fucking do this with you staring at me like that.”

She was still trembling, hands still held tight against each other. For a moment she thought she might even be bleeding, nails digging too hard into the skin covering her knuckles. Reluctantly, Beth felt herself obey her father’s words.

“Take off your pants... And your uh... Yeah.”

Beth didn’t move. She couldn’t. She just stayed there, frozen, with her lips pulled back into a silent sob.

Rick let out a sigh, like he was nothing more than simply agitated at this point.

“You’re the one who asked for this, Beth. Pretty sure you know how it has to work. Take off your pants and get—” Rick paused, either gagging or burping Beth wasn’t quite sure, “stay down on your knees.”

It took her a long while, begging her stunned body to listen to her brain before the Vorbluxians zapped them away to their torturous dimension, but finally she was able to work at the button of her jeans. Shame reddened her cheeks as she slid down her panties over the curve of her ass with a terrible shudder.

She wanted to tell him she was sorry. She wanted to tell him that this was a part of herself that she had never meant for him to see; all her sick, twisted desires lying in wait at the back of her mind that were never meant to ever see the light of day. She wanted to tell him that she never would have willingly opened that box. She wanted to tell him that she would have never asked him do this on her own.

Minutes must have passed with Beth waiting on her hands and knees. Tears sprang from her eyes, painting the sand beneath her face an even darker shade of violet. Maybe he was weighing up leaving her like this. Maybe he really was considering it, the unspeakable and endless alternative.

Just when she was sure he was about to decline, a pair of blood-hot palms found their way to Beth’s hips, squeezing tightly before suddenly letting go. It was as if the realization of what he was doing— who he was touching— was like a physical burn, making him pull his hands back in horror.

She could hear what she thought was him digging into his pocket behind her before realizing, with a blow that felt like a knife to the belly, that it was the sound of him unbuckling his belt. Slowly he laid a hand onto the junction between her thigh and ass, trying to keep his thumb away from the swell of her cunt. Beth could sense his body moving vigorously behind her, quick hasty movements that traveled all the way back up the length of his other arm. When Beth finally understood what her father was doing behind her— what she was making him do— she couldn’t hold it back anymore. Bile rose up in her throat. Her stomach contracted once, twice, and then she vomited; the contents of her stomach spewing all over the sand in front of her.

Rick paused, only for a moment. Then he continued, vigorously and desperately trying to coax himself to hardness. He guided his daughter’s ass up to meet his height; mechanical, like shaking a hand or opening a fucking door. He pressed himself inside of her, achingly thick; and Beth bit down on a loud wail of pain. She didn’t want him to know that it hurt, didn’t feel allowed to complain about it now. After all, this was what she had wanted. This was her fault. Everything. All of it.

“I’m ready.” Beth whispered.

“I didn’t ask.”

He _hated it,_ and she could feel it; connected like a fork jammed into a fucking light-socket. It was like sandpaper to the insides; the angle too sharp, too agonizingly deep as he immediately started moving in and out. Slowly, steadily, like a resting heartbeat every time his jutting hips touched the flesh of Beth’s ass. 

Beth’s body wasted no time in betraying her. She could feel her face heating up again, only this time it wasn’t the shame that had caused it. Her cunt became as wet as it ever had before with any other man, slicking the way for Rick as he started to speed up his pace.

The rough grains of the planet’s strange sand dug into the thin flesh over her palms and knees, rubbing them raw. Beth welcomed it though. She welcomed everything— anything to distract her from the way her father’s flared head throbbed against her cervix with every loathsome thrust in and out of her. She had wanted this. There was no denying that now. She had wanted this for as long as she could even care to remember— having no idea where it had come from or why. She had fucked herself to the thought of her father wanting her, taking her, kissing her, fucking her, more times than she could even begin to count; but not like this. Never, ever like this.

Rick shifted. She was sure it wasn’t on purpose, but this time when he drove inside of her he hit a place that made stars burst behind her eyes. A wave of pleasure ripped through her core, and Beth didn’t know whether she wanted to vomit again or trail a hand down between her legs to bring herself off.

With a soft grunt Rick buried his fist into Beth’s hair and wrenched her head back. She knew without being told that wasn’t out of newfound lust, or passion, or even anger as he pulled against her. He just didn’t want to touch her hips or ass and needed something to hold onto so that he could speed up even faster.

Beth tried to stop it. Truly, she did. She tried with all her might to keep at bay all of the disgusting thoughts that began racing through her mind like stirred-up dust, but when Rick let free a choked-out sigh that blew warm air against the back of her neck, she knew she couldn’t hold it back anymore. 

Beth came without a word, clit throbbing untouched between her thighs. She clenched her eyes shut, trying not to even breathe, not wanting her father to ever know how much she was actually fucking enjoying this. She bit down on her lip, pain that did nothing to cut through the pleasure, slicking her teeth with the sharp taste of iron. It wasn’t enough though, and she knew right then that he knew too— that he could feel her spasming and clenching all around the base of his cock. Rick’s movements stuttered, like he was checking to see if he was right; if he had really just made his own demented daughter come after barely even touching her.

Beth dropped down to her forearms. A sudden rush of emotion coursed through her, and she couldn’t help but start crying again. She lifted her head to glance up at the sky, and saw the trio of Vorbluxians staring down at them like perverts huddling around a computer screen.

Rick must have noticed it too, because all at once he started to curse at them.

“Gonna blow this entire fucking planet up as soon as I get outta here.” Her father grunted, enunciating each of his words with especially brutal thrusts. “Gonna figure out how to get to that God-forsaken dimension— and I’m gonna make those motherfuckers wish they’d never even heard of me.”

Rick’s pace became dizzying, erratic, pulling Beth’s whole body forward and back as he slammed up against her. He was trying to finish. He was chasing after something Beth was afraid he wouldn’t ever be able to reach, because how could he? It was an impossible situation, the stuff of literal nightmares. Just when she feared he was about to give up his slender hips stilled behind her. He was coming, without a sound, twitching almost painfully up against the walls of Beth’s cunt. It seemed only to last but a second, and when he wasted no time ripping himself out, the sudden emptiness was enough to make her gasp.

Beth could feel it as it trailed down the inside of her thigh, hot as oil on her skin. She could already hear the soft stepping of Rick’s heavy shoes in the distance, stomping back off towards the ship without even saying a word.

The tears didn’t come this time; as if she were suddenly too exhausted, or too stunned to weep again. She let her face fall to the side. Her skin pressed hard against the sand, inches from her own vomit, and she closed her eyes as she fought for the will to stand up.

“Congratulations, Beth Smith.” The lemon-shaped beings grinned from above. “Your one true desire has finally been fulfilled.”

Beth stared up at them, and she wished more than anything in this world that she had just fucking stayed home today. All that they’d just been through together, and now it meant absolutely _nothing._ She was filthy. She was broken, and he was going to disappear into the ether just as quickly as he’d come back to her. 

_Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations._


	5. Postpartum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, but I’ve actually decided on making this story a little longer than I’d intended and also didn’t want this part to drag out and be boring.

Rick’s knuckles were nearly all white, like bones settled in tight between the weathered grooves of the steering wheel. He’d been sitting there waiting, seething, since before Beth had even managed to pull her panties back up over her hips. He didn’t look like himself anymore, when Beth had finally gathered the courage to steal a glance over at him in his seat. It was almost like his face had changed, like sleepovers as a girl when she’d stare at her friends in the darkness until her mind would play tricks on her eyes. She wasn’t sure who he looked like, not really, but he certainly didn’t look like Rick.

The door to the ship sealed itself with an angry hiss, drowning out the sound of the electrical storm that had begun brewing and whipping around them. The contrast was almost deafening, the absence of noise like icepicks jamming deep into her eardrums. She wanted something to drown out her thoughts, to fill the silence that poisoned the chambers of her heart. She yearned for the crackling of the radio or the rumbling of an engine, and yet there was nothing. Her eyes dropped down to the empty bottles littered beneath her feet. There was absolutely _nothing._

She remembered how long it had taken them to get to the final planet, and dreaded the thought of enduring those several hours again.

Just as she was considering digging out her phone to help pass the time, Rick spared them both by pulling out his portal gun from the inside of his lab-coat.

A spiral of light spontaneously erupted before them. It swallowed up her father’s handcrafted vessel like the mouth of an emerald fish and spat them out onto the empty pad of concrete in front of the garage. The ship landed with a screech, and Beth gasped as her body jerked violently against her seatbelt. Home at last.

Beth’s nails, caked with violet grains of sand, dug into her forearms until she was sure she was going to bleed. She knew what was coming, could see it clearly in her mind whenever she dared to close her eyes. He was going to scream at her to get out of his ship, curse her for the unspeakable act she had wrecked upon him, and leave again forever. She’d never see him again for the rest of her life, a horror so tangible she could reach out and touch it.

“You might wanna clean your face before the kids see you.”

The sudden sound of Rick’s unpleasant voice ripped Beth free from her thoughts. The dull look on his face betrayed by the vitriol in his eyes, he all but glared at her through the passenger side window. She hadn’t even realized he’d gotten out.

“Wh-what?” She asked.

“Your makeup.” Rick answered flatly, gesturing to the dried trails of mascara beneath the hollows of her eyes. “I don’t really want— I -I - I don’t really feel like trying to explain to Summer and Morty why their mother is out crying in front of the garage.”

Beth stared in silence. She didn’t understand why he cared— why he would ever care about having to explain anything he didn’t want to talk about to Morty and Summer— or if this was just some way to try and shame her for being upset over something she had caused. Her mouth hung open stupidly, empty space resting between her jaws. She was too confused, too stunned to so much as nod her head numbly in agreement.

Rick gave her one last blank stare. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, and turned sharply to head towards the house.

Scorn hollowed Beth’s gut. She had no right to be angry at him, but her emotions boiled like a volatile substance beneath her sand-scraped skin. She didn’t dare wipe her eyes; justifying it as some fucked-up display of defiance, but still she brushed the violet from her jeans when she stood to head inside.

Beth found herself thinking about the sticky mess congealing in the seams of her panties, cool against her sore cunt as she walked, and immediately she felt sick. She collapsed to her knees on the concrete slab of the driveway, arms trembling to hold her weight when she dropped forward onto them. The pain anchored her, kept her from passing out right there in front of her own garage; and she forbade herself from crying again.

All of the trips he could have ever asked her to join him on, and it had to have been this one.

She wanted a shower. She needed a shower. She needed to wash away the filth from her womb, to try and forget about how it felt to— her eyes squeeze shut. Sometimes the best thing to do is just not think about it.

With a soft grunt of effort, Beth forced herself onto wobbling knees and made her way inside.

The living room was empty, television cold and silent as she passed her way through. Beth was thankful for that. She wouldn’t have to deal with faking a smile, or shrugging either of her children off without so much as a word. It was only when she noticed the sound of the shower running in the bathroom that she felt her heart sink down beneath her hips.

Summer. It was always Summer. She could smell the soap-scented steam as it seeped through the spaces between the frame, could feel her hands curling into fists down by her sides. Minutes passed; Beth didn’t move. She’d decided to wait as patiently as she could, trying not to cause a scene over something as trivial as only having one working shower.

When at last desperation and impatience got the best of her, she growled out a seething, “Summer hurry up.”

Silence. Beth pressed her ear to the door, repeated her demand once more a little louder through the wood. “Now!”

Again, there was no answer. She knocked the edge of her fist into the space above the doorknob, giving herself over to the rage that had been building its way up inside of her. 

“Summer! This is your last chance to open this goddamn door before I— !” 

Beth ended her threat with a final slamming of her fist against the painted wood, but before her skin even connected it swung out open all at once in front of her. Her lips hardened into a snarl as she prepared herself for the smug face of her redheaded daughter, and it took her a moment for her brain to process just who it was standing in front of her instead.

It was Rick. Shirtless, hair dripping, thin waist wrapped loosely with a towel; he looked nothing short of annoyed as he stared down into his daughter’s widened eyes.

“Oh.” Beth’s tongue turned to cotton in her mouth. “I uh...”

Rick shouldered his way past and disappeared down the hall behind her.

Beth couldn’t move. She just stood there, arm frozen in its raised position, until the sound of Rick’s bedroom door slamming snapped her back into reality. 

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes. He hated her. He actually fucking hated her. She’d taken the thing he’d wanted most in this world, and she’d burned it to ashes right there in front of him. She’d shown herself for what she truly was, and had revealed to him the sickness that lied inside of her.

Every memory she had had with him, every single beautiful moment; they’d all be tainted with the reality of what she would someday do to him. She locked herself into the safety of the steam-filled bathroom, closed her eyes, and wished she had just stayed home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen an episode of Rick and Morty so some stuff may be inaccurate pls 4give me. Thanks for reading though! This is the last chapter that will be dealing with this one singular day, so the rest will be more about the fallout over the course of a few weeks and stuff. Idk. Have a great day!


	6. Carousel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beth gets drunk on the balcony in front of her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An even shorter chapter than before bc I’m the woRST I’m so sorry. I really underestimated some stuff about what I planned to write, but I will hopefully be posting the next chapter after this very soon!

Pain ripped at Beth’s chest like a devil trying to claw its way out of her. It cut through the wine, summoned up fat tears that rolled cool down over her cheeks. It was the first time she’d let herself have a drink since she’d come back home to this planet, and she couldn’t understand why it tasted so different to her now. _Like venom,_ she thought, as she took another swig. _Like poison._

She’d tried everything but this, tried anything she could to rid herself of the ache and distract herself from the memory of it all. It seemed to her that no matter what she did it would always come back, a fleeting moment that would make her double forwards with the force of it. The sound of his zipper when he’d slid it open behind her. The sand beneath her knees, how it felt to be fucked raw by someone who’d barely ever even touched her, and the bile rising its way out of her stomach. She could still hear him, the horror in his voice.

_What have you done to me, Beth?_

She trembled then, cold and afraid. She pressed the bottle to her lips, tinted glass clanking against her teeth as they chattered from the frigid autumn air. It turned out to be a far bigger gulp than she had expected, and it took everything she had not to sputter out a cough, not to give herself away as she stared up at the stars.

The garage door was open, and she could hear the whirring machines of her father busy at work. He couldn’t see her, not from where she sat pressed up against the sliding glass door in front of her room, but she knew that if he heard her he would leave to go inside. All those weeks since they’d left that god forsaken planet, and he couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as her.

There was so much that she wanted to ask him. She felt the questions burn at the pit of her throat, hot like the sting of alcohol as she downed another drink. _Where would he go when he left her again?_ She wondered, as she pulled her legs in towards her chest. And even worse, when she thought about Morty resting peacefully alone in his room; _what else would he take with him when he left?_

The thought terrified her, made her slap a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out at it. It made sense to her, in a way she resented herself for understanding. She’d shown to Rick the horror that lied within her, laid it all out like a map beneath his feet. He must wonder now what else she’s capable of doing, what else she could inflict on those who share her blood. It wasn’t true, not in the slightest, but she couldn’t blame her father for thinking it.

 _Please don’t take him away from me,_ she begged silently to the fluorescent glow bleeding out into the driveway. Losing Rick she could handle; losing Rick she had done. If he left her there again she’d be fine. Sure she’d look for him in other people, and she’d pray for every beam of light in the sky to be him coming back home, but she’d be _fine._

Beth tilted her head up again. This time the stars were brighter than they’d been before, spinning slowly above her head like lights in a carousel. Any other night it would have been beautiful. It would have filled the empty places inside of her with wonder, made her close her mind to her worries and do nothing else but just see. Not that night though. That night, when Beth looked up into the sky, all she wanted to do was vomit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading and again I’m sorry for the two short chapters in a row


	7. You Were Never Really Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beth deals with an unexpected gesture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the comments on the last chapter :)

When Beth woke again, still slumped over outside where she’d fallen asleep, the sun had yet to rise up from beyond the horizon. Her face was numb, though whether it was from the alcohol or the frigid autumn air she wasn’t quite sure. The dull ache in her cheekbones rallied against the soreness of her back, hours of leaning against the sliding glass door too much for her spine to handle. Soon pain was all that she could feel, consuming her; wrecking her with the promise of a hangover worse than any she’d had in a very long time.

She leaned forward to cradle her head in her hands, immediately confused by the weight draped over her chest and the softness that danced over her knuckles when she moved. It took her a moment to free herself from the haze of the wine, but she was lucid enough to recognize her own duvet draped over her body. Her brows furrowed as she looked it over, the familiar sage threading, and at once she felt at odds with the sight of it. She couldn’t be certain of whether or not she had gone in to fetch it herself before accidentally passing out in the cold, but she could feel it in her gut that she hadn’t once moved from this spot.

It was Saturday morning. Summer would have still been away at her friend’s sleepover, and surely Morty wouldn’t have been awake and wandering about into her room in the dead of the night. There was Jerry, of course, but she’d changed the locks since the last time he had tried to sneak into the house. So no, it wasn’t any of them and she was sure of it. There was only one person in this family who would have been up between then and when she’d fallen asleep, and that person was Rick.

The realization turned her muscles to stone, her pale features pulling together as she stared out over the slowly waking neighborhood. She didn’t know what to do with it anymore than she knew what to do with the rest of what they’d been through in these past few weeks, but she knew it would be impossible to ignore. It was like a sore at the roof of her mouth, one that would consume her thoughts each time her tongue happened to run across it.

Beth gathered up her things, and when she felt around for her empty bottle of wine she saw that it was missing. Her mind filled in the gaps, assuming then that Rick had taken it back inside with him when he left; and though she didn’t quite understand it, it filled her lungs with warmth.

Then it hit her.

She rushed inside and tossed her cover back onto the bed where it belonged. Then she hurried down the stairs as quietly as she could, avoiding the squeaky bottom step when she made her way over towards the garage.

Ear pressed against the door, breath held tight in her chest; it was silent. She twisted the knob gently, slowly, certain that when she looked inside every last sign of Rick would be gone. That he would have left her and taken with him everything that could possibly ever remind her of him. That his small act of kindness wasn’t a gesture of peace, but rather a silent goodbye. Beth pushed open the door with her heart lodged deep in her throat, and saw that nothing had changed since the last time she’d seen it. Rick’s empty ship sat proudly in place of Jerry’s car, all his cleverly made tools and gadgets still proudly lining the shelves.

Beth clapped a hand over the front of her chest, feeling the rise and fall of it as she panted in the doorway. Her father was still very much here.

 

*

 

Weeks of drunken depression had left the house in a state of disarray, the worst it had looked since the two extremes of Rick’s psyche had dueled it out with one another in the living room. With Jerry gone Beth was left to do the cleaning all on her own, and until today she simply hadn’t cared enough to bother. Saturdays had become a time for uninterrupted sulking, for crying and watching Lifetime movies alone in the darkness of her room; and yet today she found herself filled with a motivation to pick up the tattered pieces of her life unlike any she had ever felt before.

Beth vacuumed the floors, mopped the tiles, washed clean her wine-soaked bedsheets as best as she could. She wiped down the cabinets, tabletops, even the baseboards— careful not to be too loud when working in the hallway by Rick’s sealed bedroom. She cleaned everything, anything; if not only to feel a sense of sterility and control that she had been mourning after for weeks.

Thoughts of Rick followed her as she scrubbed the dishes, cutting through the midst of her hangover like a scalpel through skin. It took every ounce of imagination she had to picture the cold scientist acting out such a small display of affection. He must have known that she was out there drinking alone, must have found it in himself to take that leap, to show that no matter what she had done he was still very much her father. The thought quickened her pulse, set forth a tiny burst of hope that had her hands dropping down empty into the sink. It was a sign of forgiveness, a tiny white flag waving in the breeze before her. Rick didn’t hate her after all, and that was all that Beth had ever really needed to know.

Maybe it was stupid. Maybe she was romanticizing a fatherly gesture for far more than it was, but Beth certainly didn’t think so. Rick was the smartest man in the universe, and when he did things to the people around him he did so with a purpose. It wasn’t an accident; it was a message that things were going to be okay.

That _they_ were going to be okay.

The sound of tiny footsteps pattering over the linoleum behind her snapped Beth free from her thoughts. She turned around to see Morty, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he smiled up softly at her.

“H-hey, Mom.” Her son greeted her, before his eyes darted over to the oven-clock. “You’re up early. And you uh... You cleaned...?” It came out like a question, as he peered around the pristine state of the kitchen.

Beth smiled as pleasantly as she knew how, and turned back to finish scouring a particularly stubborn plate.

“I did. I’m sure you might have noticed things haven’t exactly been the tidiest around here lately.”

“Yeah. Heh heh.” Morty paused for a while, scratching at the back of his neck. He didn’t say anything again until Beth had finished drying, and in all honesty she had forgotten he was even still there. “Say uh... What are you— wh-what do you have uh... What do you have planned... For today?

Beth freed her hands from the dampness of her yellow rubber gloves, impervious to her son’s awkward demeanor. There was too much on her mind to bother with wondering why Morty had suddenly taken an interest in her weekend activities. She shrugged at him, and cocked her head curiously to the side.

“Nothing really. Why? Did you wanna do something?”

Something unfamiliar flashed in Morty’s eyes as he clasped his hands down in front of his belly, playing with his fingers before letting his arms drop back down to his sides.

“Maybe go see a movie..?” Beth offered, to try and fill the pause.

“Well actually we— Well, Rick and I we— we were gonna watch Scanners... Today, o-out in the living room.”

She quirked a brow, not understanding where this conversation could possibly be heading; and shook her head to convey it. “And so you... Want me to stay out of your guys’ way..?”

“What? N-No. No! I was just— I was asking because, I wanted to see if you wanted to watch it. Together. You know— with us.”

Something clicked together in Beth’s brain. Morty never asked her to do anything with him and Rick. Hell, they’d once almost bitten her head off for interrupting one of their inter-dimensional cable sessions by asking what they wanted for dinner. If he was asking now, she reasoned, it must have been because Rick had wanted him too. Another white flag, another way to tell her that things were fine after all, and that he wanted to take the steps to have her back in his life.

Beth smiled, touched more than she had the words to describe.

“Sure thing, Morty. I’d love to.”

 

*

 

The movie wasn’t scheduled to come on until three, which would have left Beth plenty of time to watch it and then cook a nice meal for everyone to eat together. She could whip up one of Rick’s favorite meals, and wordlessly return his gesture of good will. Sure, things were still more awkward and painful and irreparable than she could possibly let herself think about anymore, but it all made sense to her in a way. Together they would move past it just like they did everything else in their relationship: by dancing around the issue, and never once daring to address it head on.

By now Beth had taken enough over-the-counter pain-relievers to dull the worst of her wine-induced headache, and she showered languorously to rid herself from the stench of alcohol on her skin. She dried her hair and rolled it up into her curlers, applied her usual makeup, and even dabbed on a bit of perfume before realized what she was doing. 

Rick was her father— her fucking _father_ , and yet here she was getting ready for him as if she were primping herself for a date. It soured her stomach, had her scrubbing at her wrists until her pale flesh bloomed the color of her shirt. She wiped clean the lipstick from her mouth, changed her clothes into something loose and casual.

The last thing she wanted to do was make him feel like she wanted anything more from him than the chance to redeem herself. Things were still as fragile as glass, and she didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding whatsoever. What they did together on that planet was the most agonizing thing Beth had ever gone through, and even if she truly had desired it up until she set off that conformation, she certainly never wanted to relive it again.

Beth felt her shoulders drop, as the hand on the clock dragged closer towards three. To say she was nervous would have been an understatement, and when at last she made her way back downstairs towards the kitchen she actually felt ill. 

It had been almost an entire month since she and her father had returned home together, and in that time he hadn’t spoken a single word to her. When he was home, which had become a rare occurrence; he was either awake at odd hours or busy holing himself up in his room or the garage. He avoided her meals, ignored her children’s requests to spend time with him out in the common areas, and just genuinely hadn’t shown Beth one modicum of interest in patching things up. She knew he needed time, and that something like what she had put him through had no easy fix, but she couldn’t pretend that it hadn’t hurt. Rick was the most important person to her in this world, and he couldn’t even bring himself to look at her. In a strange way, Beth felt like today was a test— just one last chance to prove to him that she could be more than the unspeakable act that she had plagued him with.

Morty was already in the living room by the time she passed through it, sitting eagerly right in the center of the couch. Beth offered him a forced smile, and when she asked him if he wanted any popcorn to eat during the movie his eyes lit up in delight. He wasn’t used to his mother being this nice to him, she realized, and it sent a tiny bolt of guilt straight to the center of her chest.

She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch the previous day, and as she stood there listening for the bag to cease its popping, her stomach began to rumble. As soon as the first batch was finished she tossed in another, thinking it too awkward to try and share a bowl with Rick if he had wanted any. The thought of them accidentally touching fingers while reaching for a handful sent a shudder up her spine. She was still just standing there, waiting in front of the microwave, when at last she heard the sound of Rick’s heavy footsteps entering the living room for the first time in weeks.

Heat burned at Beth’s cheeks. She held her breath as she listened in, hidden from where she stood silently in the kitchen. Rick sighed loudly as he plopped himself down onto the couch and draped a thin arm over the back of her son’s headrest.

“Y-you’re gonna love this, M—” he paused to belch loudly, “—orty. Rigged up a whole new channel for us; gonna watch the entire thing made with special effects by the best Garflargian director in the galaxy.You’ve never seen a guy’s head explode like this before, Morty.”

“Ah, gee, it’s not gonna be real is it, Rick?”

“Of course it’s real, Morty! What, y-y-you think that I—“ Rick’s mouth clamped suddenly shut.

His eyes widened as Beth stepped into the living room, following her as she sat down sheepishly on the other side of Morty. If Beth had been paying attention to his expression, rather than wrapping herself up in her own anxiety, she would have noticed that it almost looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

A moment passed, with Morty chomping on a handful of popcorn and Beth far too nervous to dare and say a word. At last she shot Rick a timid glance, and noticed he didn’t look happy to see her at all. She hadn’t expected him to really, but still, it was unnerving to be met with. The shocked features of his face dropped, smoldering over into an anger she couldn’t begin to understand.

“I’m goin’ to my room.” Rick announced suddenly, with a voice more annoyed than Beth had ever heard it.

Morty’s brows knitted together, staring up at his grandfather with his head tilted to the side. “But Rick—“

“See ya.”

The scientist stood from his seat, downing whatever was left in the contents of his flask. He circled the couch with a quickness that almost bordered panic, stomping all the way down the path towards his room.

Hurt darkened Morty’s eyes. He craned his neck, peering over the back of the sofa to watch as Rick disappeared into the hallway.

The sound of his door slamming shut in the distance made Beth flinch, and she felt her body slump down into the cushions; both embarrassed and confused by what on earth had just happened. She stared at the screen through the blur of her own tears, watching numbly as the opening credits of the alien Scanners film flashed across the screen. She couldn’t process what had happened; didn’t even know how. She just sat there, aching, until Morty turned back around and settled into his seat.

“Did you get what you wanted?”

Beth’s head snapped back over towards her son. His question hit her like a hard slap to the face, summoning up a roar of blood in her ears. It wasn’t accusatory; she could hear it in his voice, could see it in the way his arms fell limply into his lap. Even still, it stole the breathe from her lungs, had her fighting back tears when she asked what he meant.

Morty shrugged. He squirmed a bit in his seat, pulling up a blanket from the floor to cover up his chest.

“It’s just that... You know... Rick, he’s— he’s been acting so weird lately... and I— I-I-I know he didn’t get to open that configuration when you guys went on that trip together... and the way he’s been treating you... So I just, I dunno, I wonder— was it you? Who— who got what you wanted? Instead? And that’s why he’s pissed at you?”

Realization hit Beth like an arrow to the throat. It hadn’t been Rick’s idea to ask her to join them; it had been her son, trying everything he could to try and mend some semblance of peace between his mother and grandfather. It hurt in a way she couldn’t describe, made her skin burn when she leaned her temple into her hand. 

“No, Morty.” Beth shook her head. “I didn’t.” She paused to chew her lip between her teeth. Then, after a while, when it finally struck her, “Did you... Come out onto the balcony this morning? Really early?”

Morty’s eyes dropped down to his hands.

“I-I-I couldn’t sleep.” He admitted. “And you looked cold, so I...”

Beth silenced him with a nod.

Everything she had done today had been for nothing. That tiny sliver of hope had been meaningless, naive, and her readiness to reach out to Rick had been met with an anger unlike any he’d thwarted upon her before.

Her hand curled into a fist down by her side. Her chest opened up into a gaping black hole, swallowing up her guilt and sadness until she wasn’t even sure they were ever there. All he had done to this family, all he had done to her, and yet he couldn’t even _look at her_ over something that had been out of her control. When Beth had hurt him it was an accident— but Rick? When Rick hurt the people around him, it was almost always to prove that he _could._

It didn’t hurt anymore. She wouldn’t let it.

It was sick, and she knew it, but still she couldn’t stop the thought when it raced across her mind:  _If he really is going to leave us, I wish he’d_ _just hurry up and fucking do it already._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I know we haven’t seen a lot of the inevitable conflict/how Rick is dealing with things yet but it’s definitely coming asap. I just really wanted to highlight Beth’s transformation from sadness and guilt to frustration and anger


End file.
